Taiwan to ramp up cyberwar efforts

While budget constraints are crimping its overall military spending, Taiwan is to increase its outlays on cyberwar, according to the Taipei Times.

The newspaper says the Ministry of National Defense has published plans to expand the Communication Electronics and Information Bureau, CEIB, adding a specialist “electronic and Internet warfare” group.

The new group is being launched in response to a Ministry assessment that China is increasing offensive and defensive cyberwar capabilities.

The National Security Bureau has told AFP (syndicated at Phys.org here) that more than a million attacks were launched against its websites in the six months to June, although “all the attacks were detected and blocked”.

The Ministry’s report also accuses China’s government and military of “using Internet viruses to attack Taiwan’s government, economic and military Websites”. Attacks are more common during disputes between Taiwan and China, the Ministry says.

The report also echoes America’s belief that attacks on “government networks across the globe … have almost all been traced back to China”, chiefly concentrating on information theft.

Taiwan also states that China is deploying jamming systems in Peoples’ Liberation Army bases, fielding aircraft for early warning of jamming attacks, and deploying missiles designed to home in on enemy sources of radio emissions. ®